Montel: I'll Air both sides on 'America'

Montel Williams speaking to Daily News reporter at Air America where he will will be having a radio show called Montel Across America. (Xanthos/News)

Longtime TV host Montel Williams started a daily show on Air America radio Moday, with the ambitious goal of changing both the tone and depth of today's talk media conversation.

"My beliefs include both left and right," says the 52-year-old Williams, looking fit in casual blue jeans and, of course, his signature shaved scalp. "That's the way it should be. Don't just pick a side. Look at each issue."

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Alas, he says, often we don't.

"What media put out, most people follow," he says. "We are lemmings. That's why it's a concern that 80% of radio talk is conservative. That's why it's a problem to see the same six or seven people on talk shows every day. There are plenty of people with different views who are just as informed. Let's bring them in."

Besides broadening talk radio's perspective, he'd also like to modify its tone.

"There's so much anger behind it," he says. "It brings the discussion down to a playground level, when what we need to do is lift the discussion up.

"I don't call people names. There's nothing in the world I'm afraid to discuss, but let's argue using facts."

Toward that end, Williams says he'll solicit analysis on complex issues from scholars at top colleges. He'll then use the information to make his own cases - which he clearly can't wait to do, even though his 17-year TV show only ended last July.

"Anyone who knows me knows I'm already a radio show 24 hours a day," he says, laughing. "I have a big mouth."

The show is called "Montel Williams Across America" and the audio and video feed are available live daily, 9 a.m.-noon, on www.airamerica.com. It's not being carried for now on Air America's local affiliate, WWRL (1600 AM).

His kickoff features yesterday included a look into the Binghamton shootings and a remote report from the North Pole to mark the 100th anniversary of black explorer Matthew Henson pinpointing the geographic pole.

After his TV show ended, Williams took criticism for pitching Barack Obama commemorative coins, which he now says was "no big thing.

"Look, everyone sold commemoratives. Networks were packaging newscasts and selling them. We were giving people something they wanted, and we had a very, very few problems, all of which were taken care of."

In fact, he says, he's now fine-tuning "a new kind of infomercial" he calls "talkmercials," because they're formatted like a talk show.

But for all his multitasking, Williams says he's focusing on this new three-year deal with Air America and at least one thing beyond: a run for political office.

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"Eventually, that's going to happen," he says. "I've already been approached, by both parties, and the time hasn't been right so far. But within the next 10 years, it will be. You can count on it."